| World War II Timeline |
| 1918 | Nov. 11 | World War One Armistice signed at Compiegne, France |
| 1919 | June 28 | Treaty of Versailles signed |
| 1920 | Jan. 16 | League of Nations meets for the first time |
| 1921 | July 29 | Adolf Hitler assumes control of National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party |
| 1922 | Oct. 24 | Benito Mussolini calls for fascist "Blackshirts" to March on Rome |
| Oct. 29 | Mussolini appointed Premier by King Victor Emmanuel III |
| 1923 | Nov. 8-9 | Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch fails |
| 1925 | Jan. 3 | Mussolini dismisses Italian parliament, begins to assume dictatorial powers |
| July 18 | Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf, is published |
| 1929 | Oct. 29 | Wall Street Stock Market crashes |
| 1931 | Sept. 18 | Japanese Army invades Manchuria |
| 1932 | Nov. 8 | Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected President of the United States |
| 1933 | Jan. 30 | Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg |
| Feb. 27 | German Reichstag burns down; communists blamed, arrested. |
| Mar. 23 | Enabling Act passed by Reichstag; Hitler assumes dictatorial power |
| July 14 | Nazi party declared official party of Germany; all other parties banned |
| Oct. 14 | Germany quits League of Nations |
| 1934 | June 30 | Hitler orders murder of SA Chief Ernst Roehm in "Night of the Long Knives" |
| Aug. 2 | German President Paul von Hindenburg dies |
| Aug. 19 | Hitler combines the offices of president and chancellor; assumes the title of Führer |
| 1935 | Mar. 16 | Military conscription introduced in Germany in violation of Versailles treaty |
| Sept. 15 | Nuremberg race laws promulgated |
| Oct. 3 | Italian Army invades Ethiopia |
| 1936 | Mar. 7 | German troops remilitarize the Rhineland in violation of Versailles treaty |
| May 9 | Italian campaign in Ethiopia ends |
| July 17 | Spanish Civil War breaks out; Hitler and Mussolini send aid to Franco |
| Oct. 1 | Franco becomes dictator of Spain |
| Oct. 25 | Rome-Berlin "Axis" alliance formed |
| 1937 | Jan. 19 | Japan withdraws from Washington Conference Treaty limiting the size of its navy |
| May 28 | Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of England |
| June 11 | Josef Stalin begins purge of Red Army |
| July 7 | Full-scale war erupts between China and Japan |
| 1938 | Mar. 12 | Germany invades Austria; Anschluss (union) proclaimed |
| Sept. 30 | Munich conference held to solve Sudeten question |
| Oct. 15 | German troops occupy Czech Sudetenland |
| Nov 9-10 | Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) |
| 1939 | Mar. 15-16 | German troops occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia in violation of Munich Agreement |
| Mar. 28 | Spanish Civil War ends |
| Aug. 23 | Nazi-Soviet nonagression pact signed |
| Sept. 1 | German Army invades Poland |
| Sept. 3 | Britain and France declare war on Germany |
| Sept. 17 | Red Army invades Poland in accordance with Nazi-Soviet Pact |
| Sept. 27 | Warsaw falls to the Nazis |
| Nov. 30 | Red Army attacks Finland |
| Dec. 14 | Soviet Union kicked out of League of Nations |
| 1940 | Mar. 12 | Finland signs peace treaty with Soviet Union |
| April 9 | German Army invades Denmark and Norway |
| May 10 | German Army invades France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill appointed British Prime Minister |
| May 15 | Holland capitulates to Nazis |
| May 26 | Rescue at Dunkirk |
| May 28 | Belgium capitulates to Nazis |
| June 10 | Norway capitulates to Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France |
| June 14 | Nazis take Paris |
| June 22 | France capitulates to Nazis |
| July 10 | Battle of Britain begins |
| July 23 | Red Army takes Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia |
| Aug. 3 | Italian Army invades British Somaliland |
| Aug. 13 | Luftwaffe begins raids on British airfields and aircraft factories |
| Aug. 23-24 | Off-course German bombers accidentally bomb London |
| Aug. 25-26 | Royal Air Force mounts reprisal raid against Berlin |
| Sept. 7 | German "blitz" on British cities begins in earnest |
| Sept. 13 | Italian Army attacks Egypt |
| Sept. 16 | Military conscription introduced in United States |
| Sept. 27 | Tripartite alliance formed between Germany, Italy and Japan |
| Oct. 7 | German troops occupy Romania |
| Oct. 28 | Italian Army attacks Greece |
| Nov. 5 | Roosevelt re-elected |
| Nov. 10-11 | RAF raid cripples Italian fleet at Taranto |
| Nov. 20 | Romania joins Axis |
| Dec. 9-10 | British counter-attack begins against Italian Army in North Africa |
| 1941 | Jan. 22 | British take Tobruk in North Africa from Nazis |
| Feb. 11 | British Army attacks Italian Somaliland |
| Feb. 12 | Erwin Rommel assumes command of German Afrika Korps |
| Mar. 7 | British Army comes to the aid of Greece |
| Mar. 11 | Lend-Lease Act signed by Roosevelt |
| April 6 | German Army hastily invades Yugoslavia and Greece |
| April 17 | Yugoslavia capitulates to Nazis |
| April 27 | Greece capitulates to Nazis |
| May 10 | Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland on "peace mission" |
| May 15 | British counter-attack in Egypt |
| May 24 | German battleship Bismarck sinks Hood, pride of the Royal Navy |
| May 27 | Royal Navy sinks Bismarck |
| June 8 | British Army invades Lebanon and Syria |
| June 22 | Hitler launches operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union |
| June 28 | Germans capture Soviet city of Minsk |
| July 3 | Stalin launches "scorched earth" policy |
| July 31 | Planning begins for "Final Solution," the systematic destruction of the Jews |
| Aug. 12 | Atlantic Charter signed by Roosevelt and Churchill |
| Aug. 20 | German siege of Soviet city of Leningrad begins |
| Sept. 1 | Jews order to wear yellow Star of David |
| Sept. 19 | Germans capture Soviet city of Kiev |
| Sept. 29 | German SS mass murders Russian Jews at Kiev |
| Oct. 16 | Germans capture Soviet city of Odessa |
| Oct. 17 | Hideki Tojo becomes Prime Minister of Japan |
| Oct. 24 | Germans capture Soviet city of Kharkov |
| Oct. 30 | German Army occupies the Crimea |
| Nov. 20 | Germans capture the Soviet city of Rostov |
| Nov. 27 | Red Army retakes Rostov |
| Dec. 6 | Red Army launches major counter-offensive |
| Dec. 7 | Japanese attack naval base at Pearl Harbor |
| Dec. 8 | Roosevelt gives "Day of Infamy" speech; United States and Britain declare war on Japan |
| Dec. 11 | Germany declares war on the United States |
| Dec. 16 | Rommel's Afrika Korps forced to retreat in North Africa |
| Dec. 19 | Hitler assumes post of Commander in Chief of German Army |
| 1942 | Jan. | Mass gassing of Jews begins at Auschwitz |
| Jan. 1 | Allies forge Declaration of the United Nations |
| Jan. 13 | German U-boats begin sinking ships off American coast in "Operation Drumbeat" |
| Jan. 20 | Nazis coordinate "Final Solution" efforts at Wannsee Conference |
| Jan. 21 | Rommel counter-attacks in North Africa |
| April | American citizens of Japanese descent forced into "relocation centers" |
| Apr. 18 | Doolittle Raid on Japan |
| May 7-8 | Battle of the Coral Sea |
| May 8 | Germans launch summer offensive in the Crimea |
| May 30 | Royal Air Force launches first 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne, Germany |
| June 4 | Japanese Navy resoundingly defeated at Battle of Midway--war reaches its turning point in the Pacific; S.S. Leader Rheinhardt Heydrich dies of wounds sustained in partisan attack at Prague |
| June 5 | German siege of Sevastopol begins |
| June 10 | Nazis annihilate Czech town of Lidice in retaliation for Heydrich's assassination |
| June 21 | German Afrika Korps recaptures Tobruk |
| July 3 | Sevastopol falls to German Army |
| July 4 | US discovers Japanese building airfield on Guadalcanal |
| July 5 | Nazi conquest of Crimea achieved |
| July 9 | German Army begins push towards Stalingrad |
| Aug. 7 | General Bernard Montgomery assumes command of British Eighth Army in North Africa |
| Aug. 7 | First Marine Division invades Guadalcanal |
| Aug. 19 | Aborted attempt to land at Dieppe, France |
| Sept. 13 | German attack on Stalingrad begins |
| Oct. 23-Nov. 3 | Afrika Korps decisively defeated by British at El Alamein |
| Nov. 8 | Allied invasion of North Africa begins in "Operation Torch" |
| Nov. 11 | Axis forces occupy Vichy France |
| Nov. 19 | Soviet forces encircle German Sixth Army at Stalingrad |
| Dec. 31 | German and British ships engage in the Battle of the Barents Sea |
| 1943 | Jan. 2-3 | German Army retreats from Caucasus |
| Jan. 10 | Red Army begins siege of German-occupied Stalingrad |
| Jan. 14-23 | Roosevelt and Churchill meet at Casablanca, issue unconditional surrender demand |
| Jan. 23 | British forces take Tripoli |
| Jan. 27 | U.S. Air Force opens daylight bombing campaign with attack on Wilhelmshaven, Germany |
| Feb. 2 | German Sixth Army at Stalingrad surrenders to the Russians; war in Europe reaches its turning point |
| Feb. 8 | Red Army takes Kursk |
| Feb. 14-25 | Battle of Kasserine Pass fought in North Africa between German and U.S. forces |
| Feb. 16 | Red Army retakes Kharkov |
| Mar. 2 | Afrika Korps withdraws from Tunisia |
| Mar. 2-5 | Battle of the Bismarck Sea |
| Mar. 15 | Germany Army recaptures Kharkov |
| Mar. 16-20 | German submarines achieve their largest tonnage total of the war |
| Apr. 18 | Isoruku Yamamoto shot down over Bougainville |
| Apr. 19 | S.S. begins "liquidation" of the Warsaw ghetto |
| May 7 | Allies capture Tunisia |
| May 13 | remaining Axis troops in North Africa surrender to Allies |
| May 16-17 | RAF targets German industry in the Ruhr |
| May 22 | U-boat operations suspended in the North Atlantic due to steep losses |
| June 11 | Nazis order destruction of Polish ghettos |
| July 5 | Largest tank battle in history begins at Kursk |
| July 9-10 | Allied forces land on Sicily |
| July 22 | American forces take Palermo, Sicily |
| July 25-26 | Mussolini and the Fascists overthrown |
| July 27-28 | Allied bombing raid creates firestorm in Hamburg, Germany |
| Aug. 12-17 | Axis forces withdraw from Sicily |
| Aug. 17 | USAF suffers steep losses in bombing run on ball-bearing plants at Regensburg and Schweinfurt, Germany |
| Aug. 23 | Red Army retakes Karkhov |
| Sept. 8 | New Italian government announces Italy's surrender |
| Sept. 9 | Allied forces land in Salerno and Taranto, Italy |
| Sept. 11 | German Army occupies Italy |
| Sept. 12 | Nazi commandos rescue Mussolini |
| Sept. 23 | Fascist government re-established in Italy |
| Oct. 1 | Allies take Naples |
| Nov. 6 | Red Army recaptures Kiev |
| Nov. 28 | "Big Three" of Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill meet at Tehran |
| Dec. 24-26 | Soviets begin large offensive in Ukraine |
| 1944 | Jan. 6 | Red Army advances into Poland |
| Jan. 22 | Allied forces land at Anzio, Italy |
| Jan. 27 | Red Army breaks 900-day siege of Leningrad |
| Jan. 31 | American forces invade Kwajalein |
| Feb. 16 | German 14th Army counter-attacks at Anzio |
| Feb. 18-22 | American forces take Eniwetok |
| Apr. 8 | Red Army begins offensive in the Crimea |
| May 9 | Soviet troops recapture Sevastopol |
| May 12 | German forces in the Crimea surrender |
| June 5 | Allied forces enter Rome |
| June 6 | D-Day: invasion of Europe begins with Allied landings at Normandy |
| June 9 | Red Army advances into Finland |
| June 13 | Germans begin launching V-1 rockets against London |
| June 15 | American marines invade Saipan |
| June 19-20 | "Marianas Turkey Shoot" results in destruction of over 200 Japanese aircraft |
| June 22 | Red Army begins massive summer offensive |
| June 27 | American forces liberate Cherbourg |
| July 3 | Soviet forces recapture Minsk |
| July 9 | Allied troops liberate Caen |
| July 18 | American troops liberate St Lô |
| July 20 | Hitler survives assassination attempt |
| July 24 | Soviet forces liberate concentration camp at Majdanek |
| July 25-30 | Allied forces break-out of Normandy encirclement in "Operation Cobra" |
| July 28 | Red Army recaptures Brest-Litovsk |
| Aug. 1 | Polish Home Army begins revolt against Nazis in Warsaw |
| Aug. 15 | Allies invade Southern France |
| Aug. 19-20 | Soviet forces invade Romania |
| Aug. 23 | Rumania capitulates to Soviets |
| Aug. 25 | Paris liberated |
| Aug. 31 | Red Army takes Bucharest |
| Sept. 3 | Brussels liberated |
| Sept. 4 | Antwerp liberated |
| Sept. 8 | Soviets and Finns sign peace treaty |
| Sept. 13 | American troops reach the Siegfried Line in western Germany |
| Sept. 26 | Red Army occupies Estonia |
| Oct. 2 | Nazis brutally crush revolt in Warsaw; Allies advance into Germany |
| Oct. 5 | British invade Greece |
| Oct. 14 | British liberate Athens; Rommel forced to commit suicide for alleged involvement in July assassination plot against Hitler |
| Oct. 20 | Belgrade, Yugoslavia falls to Soviet forces |
| Oct. 23-26 | U.S. naval forces destroy remnants of Japanese Navy at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval engagement in history |
| Nov. 7 | Roosevelt elected to fourth term |
| Dec. 3 | Civil war erupts in Greece; Japanese retreat in Burma |
| Dec. 15 | American forces invade Phillipine island of Mindoro |
| Dec. 16 | German Army launches "Battle of the Bulge" offensive on the Western Front |
| Dec. 17 | Waffen SS executes 81 American prisoners of war in "Malmedy Massacre" |
| 1945 | Jan. 9 | American forces invade Phillipine island of Luzon |
| Jan. 16 | Battle of the Bulge ends in German defeat |
| Jan. 17 | Red Army liberates Warsaw |
| Jan. 19 | German lines on Eastern Front collapse; full retreat begins |
| Jan. 20 | Hungary signs armistice with Allies |
| Jan. 26 | Soviets liberate Auschwitz |
| Jan. 27 | Red Army occupies Lithuania |
| Feb. 4-11 | Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet at Yalta Conference |
| Feb. 13-14 | Allied incendiary raid creates firestorm in Dresden |
| Feb. 19 | American forces land on Iwo Jima |
| Mar. 3 | American forces liberate Manila in the Phillipines; Finland declares war on Germany |
| Mar. 7 | Allies capture Cologne; Ludendorff Rail Bridge on Rhine River captured intact at Ramagen |
| Mar. 9 | Tokyo firebombed |
| Mar. 16 | Japanese resistance on Iwo Jima ends |
| Mar. 21 | Allies take Mandalay, Burma |
| Mar. 30 | Red Army liberates Danzig |
| Apr. 1 | American troops encircle German forces in the Ruhr |
| Apr. 12 | Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies of stroke; Harry Truman becomes President; Allies liberate Belsen and Buchenwald concentration camps |
| Apr. 16 | Red Army launches Berlin offensive; Allies take Nuremberg |
| Apr. 18 | German forces in the Ruhr capitulate |
| Apr. 28 | Mussolini hanged by Italian partisans; Venice falls to Allied forces |
| Apr. 29 | Dachau concentration camp liberated |
| Apr. 30 | Adolf Hitler and wife Eva Braun commit suicide in Chancellery bunker |
| May 2 | All German forces in Italy surrender |
| May 7 | Unconditional surrender of all German forces |
| May 8 | Victory in Europe (VE) Day |
| May 23 | SS Reichführer Heinrich Himmler commits suicide |
| June 5 | Allies divide Germany into occupation zones |
| June 26 | United Nations World Charter signed in San Francisco |
| July 16 | First U.S. atomic bomb tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico; Potsdam Conference begins |
| July 26 | Clement Attlee becomes British Prime Minister |
| July 30 | Indianapolis is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-58 |
| Aug. 6 | First atomic bomb dropped Hiroshima |
| Aug. 8 | Soviet Union declares war on Japan; Soviet forces invade Manchuria |
| Aug. 9 | Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki |
| Aug. 14 | Unconditional surrender of Japanese forces |
| Aug. 15 | Victory over Japan (VJ) Day |
| Sept. 2 | Japanese delegation signs instrument of surrender aboard battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay |
| Nov. 20 | Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal begins |
| 1946 | Jan. 7 | United Nations meets for first time in London |
| Oct. 16 | Hermann Göring commits suicide; 11 other war criminals hanged |
